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Is your afterschool program prepared for emergencies? Afterschool programs, unlike public schools, have no federal mandate to have an emergency plan but that doesn't mean that expectations from parents and your community are not still high. If a major emergency strikes, such as one of the magnitude of the Japan earthquake and tsunami, then parents will expect that you will take care of their children until the parents can come pick them up. In the case of the Japan earthquake and tsunami, we saw that in some situations, parents could not reach their children on the same day, meaning that school staff were responsible for the children overnight and sometimes for several days after.

As there is no federal mandate for afterschool programs, that means that resources for building afterschool emergency plans can be a little scarce. I shared the following resources at a workshop for the Oregon Afterschool Conference a few weeks ago and wanted to post them here for everyone to access.

The American Red Cross developed a free app that maps shelter locations and details across the United States.The app can tell you which shelters are open, who is managing the shelter and the capacity and current population of the shelter.It also gives the latest disaster information.

Those without an iPhone can find the same information online at www.redcross.organd clicking on “Find a Shelter.”

Hurricane Forecaster (free)

For the visual folks, the Hurricane Forecaster for iPhone gives detailed forecast maps that show where the storm is now and where it’s headed to next.You can also find out how powerful the storm will be in a 48-hour forecast.This app uses data from the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

Hurricane and Hurricane HD (for iPhone and iPad respectively) just went through a redesign for the 2011 hurricane season, offering the ability to plot multiple storms on an interactive tracking map, worldwide hurricane, typhoon and cyclone tracking, push notifications and an interactive 5 day forecast cone.It also offers the ability to view past hurricanes for comparison.

Still need to get you and your family prepared for hurricanes?Get our Hurricane Kit filled with 72 hours worth of supplies packed into a sturdy backpack for quick hurricane evacuation.

FEMA recently reported that a safe room built in Tushka, OK saved the lives of hundreds of residents during the April 14, 2011 tornado. Almost 200 men, women, children and firefighters stood shoulder-to-shoulder and rode out winds of up to 165 mph in the safe room built adjacent to the Tushka Elementary.

A properly designed safe room is built to provide near-absolute protection from injury or death in extreme-wind situations such as tornadoes or hurricanes. Safe rooms can be built either inside your home, or in a free-standing structure outside your house.

Best practices on how to build a safe room can be found on FEMA's website - which I suggest you look into if you live in tornado/hurricane country. Building your own safe room can be expensive, especially if you are not handy with a hammer yourself - but FEMA funding is available.

Residential safe rooms are often built to hold 16 people and are recommended to be placed in your basement, on a concrete slab-on grade foundation or garage floor, or in an interior room on the first floor.

While standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a room full of 200 people doesn't sound fun, it sure beats the fear that I am sureKansas City Chief's CB Javier Arenas felt waiting out the recent Tuscaloosa tornado in his bathtub.

Do you have a safe room? What's it look like? We'd love to see your pictures! You can email them to info (at) readysetgokits.com or post them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ReadySetGoKits.